Saudi education official sacked after photo of Yoda appears with King Faisal
An embarrassing error costs Education Ministry workers their jobs - but mystery surrounds how the image came to be published.
Tuesday 26 September 2017 18:20, UK
An education official has reportedly been sacked after a photo showing Yoda from the Star Wars films next to the Saudi king made it into school textbooks.
The Saudi Education Ministry recalled social studies books featuring the photoshopped image of the Jedi master sitting with King Faisal as he signed the United Nations Charter in 1945, local media said.
The Arabic-language Okaz newspaper said the undersecretary of the Curriculum and Educational Programs Department, Mohammed bin Attiyah al Harthi, was fired over the gaffe - apparently the latest in a series of errors in books for subjects including history, chemistry, English and religious education.
Other officials in charge of reviewing and approving the textbooks were also reportedly given their marching orders.
Okaz quoted Harthi as saying he would remain loyal to the kingdom despite his dismissal.
Abdullah al Shehri - the artist behind the image - has said he has no idea how it appeared in the textbooks.
"I am the one who designed it, but I am not the one who put it in the book," he told the New York Times.
The photo was part of a series mixing pop culture icons into historical photographs.
Mr Shehri, 26, said he thought of Yoda when he saw the photo because the king - a prince and foreign minister at the time - was admired for his intelligence.
"He was wise and was always strong in his speeches," Mr. Shehri told the New York Times.
"So I found that Yoda was the closest character to the king. And also Yoda and his light saber - it's all green."